Tour of Portland's storm-water system goes by bike, of course

Abby Haight/The OregonianJim Figurski (second from left), technical director for GreenWorks, tells a group of engineers, planners and designers how Tanner Springs Park in Portland's Pearl District acts as a wetlands, absorbing and filtering storm-water runoff from nearby paved areas. Quinn Donnelly (right), a water resource engineer, organized a bike tour of several innovative storm-water systems for professionals attending the Sustainable Stormwater Symposium.

They had spent two days in a conference room, listening to presentations with titles such as "The Geomorphological Impacts of Stormwater," and vigorously discussing bioswales and permit requirements and permeable pavement.

So with a free Thursday afternoon and glorious weather, the band of engineers, planners and designers attending the first "Sustainable Stormwater Symposium" broke loose in a very Portland way.

They went for a bike ride.

Not just any bike ride, of course, but one that toured several of Portland's storm-water systems -- specially constructed green spaces that let nature treat the dirty water that flows off the urban landscape.

Tour de Drains

Want to take the tour yourself? Click here for a brochure and the route

Like LEED certification in building construction, natural methods of handling runoff -- from eco-roofs to habitat restoration -- are becoming the standard in public and private development.

Earlier in the day, the conservation group American Rivers announced that Portland was one of its top eight "water wise" communities, thanks to city programs that encourage green streets, eco-roofs and downspout disconnection.

Portland's programs, still in their early stages, capture about 15 percent of the city's annual storm-water runoff and have the potential to absorb 80 percent. Expanding the city's green infrastructure could reduce sewage overflows by 96percent by 2011.

And most of the green management systems are just plain cool to see.

Quinn Donnelly, a water resources engineer with Otak Inc., planned the symposium bike route so it stopped at some of the city's best storm-water systems: "green streets" that combined nature's grace with human artistry and practical environmentalism.

But Donnelly worried about riders unfamiliar with hazards such as rail tracks, automobile traffic and other bike riders on busy routes such as the Hawthorne Bridge. He finally relaxed when the tour began.

"They aren't a bunch of kids who are going to ride into the Willamette River," he said.

Most of the locals brought their own bikes. Sellwood Cycles provided sweet rides for those without.

Bill Hunt, an associate professor at North Carolina State University, hadn't been on a bicycle since 1997 but gamely rolled up a pants leg and pedaled off with a few wobbles and a hoot of laughter.

Hunt was a symposium presenter -- "Permeable Pavement Research and Associated Changes to North Carolina Design Standards" -- and is familiar with Portland's special storm-water systems.

"There's a smart storm-water management ethic here," he said. "They're making storm-water treatment artistic. There's a lot here where people have gone the extra step."

The group cruised to Tanner Springs Park in the Pearl District, which was created as a wetland, said Jim Figurski, the technical director for GreenWorks, which worked with park designer Herbert Dreiseitl of Atelier Dreiseitl.

"All the water that comes into the park, stays in the park," he said.

Next stop was across the Willamette River, at the RiverEast Center near the Hawthorne Bridge, where a private property handles its own runoff and some from the public roadway in a series of bioswales -- green spaces planted with native species that can absorb and filter runaway water.

After a final stop at the South Waterfront, with its extensive eco-roofs and bioswales, the tour wound to a Portland-style finish -- at a brewpub.